


where the path may lead

by chirithy (sylleblossum)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Eventual Romance, Fix-It, Kairi/Selphie mention, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Oblivious Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku has long hair, Slow Burn, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-10-31 04:06:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17842130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylleblossum/pseuds/chirithy
Summary: Sora told himself that once everything was all said and done, he'd take his friends to see the other worlds.He never realized that his journey would also lead him to learning more about his friends, more specifically Riku.A mix of a fix-it fic, and a fic about Sora taking Riku to the KH3 worlds.





	1. Destiny Islands

Sora sat next to Kairi on their usual paopu tree; he sent the occasional glance over his shoulder back to the beach, where Riku sat alone just staring at the sunset. Riku’s long silver hair is pulled into a messy bun at the nape of his neck, and one of Kairi’s barrettes held his bangs to the side. Just the sight of Riku looking so serene and at peace made Sora’s heart feel warm, and brought a timid smile to his face.

“Sora,” Sora was shook from his thought and turned to look fully at Kairi. She looked a bit wistful, not even looking at Sora, but instead to the horizon.

“I once told you never change but,” Kairi looked back at Sora, her smile a bit sad.

“I was scared that we’d all change once we left the island and it wouldn’t be a good thing. But everything we’ve been through, we’ve seen and learned, has changed us and it was for the better,” Kairi looked over shoulder at Riku.

“Riku used to be so at war with himself, but now he’s more at peace. I’ve seen him smile more these days than I had all the years I’ve known him,” She turned back to Sora.

“Change is a good thing a lot of times, even you have changed, Sora. Though there are still parts of you that stayed the same,” Sora tilted his head in confusion, looking at Kairi for a continued explanation. She poked him in the chest, right under his necklace.

“That heart of yours. No matter what, you always try to see the good in a person,” Sora looked up from his chest to smile at Kairi, who returned it just as brightly. Believing the conversation to be over, Sora turned his smile back towards the sunset once more, not noticing Kairi still looking at him, her expression turning wistful once again.

“Sora, if I offered you the paopu fruit right now, would you share it with me?” Sora quickly turned his head, looking completely confused at Kairi.

“I, uh…” Sora thought it over; he knew when he was younger, before they started their journey, he had a major crush on Kairi, but the time apart from her, his feelings faded back into simple platonic ones. He might have agreed all those years ago, but now not so much, so he shook his head, giving her his answer. Sora watched in confusion as Kairi giggled before smiling once more, turning back to the sunset.

“It’s okay, Sora, I’m not upset. I was only asking, I don’t think I’d be able to share one with you either. When I was younger, maybe, but now you’re just my goofy brother,” Sora pouted at the comment for a moment, but returned Kairi’s smile.

“The year I couldn’t remember you, I kind of developed feelings for Selphie. She was there for me when I missed Riku, and in some part, you. And she just understood me, and I could just be me around her,” Kairi was looking at her hands, a slight blush across her face. Sora’s smile only grew, he was so happy for his best friend. He pulled Kairi into a side hug.

“That’s so great, Kairi! I remember when you first appeared on the island, Selphie said that you were so pretty!” Kairi raised an eyebrow at that, laughing slightly.

“Oh really? I didn’t know that part,” Sora and her laughed a bit more, before they turned back to look at the horizon, back at the main island.

“You should go see her…before we leave,” Kairi looked up at Sora, her expression turning sad, hearing the meaning beneath his words.

 _We don’t know if we’ll ever see them again_ , _we don’t know what tomorrow’s outcome will truly be_.

Kairi nodded, before pulling Sora into a full hug.

“Thank you Sora. I’ll see in the morning,” Kairi hopped off the tree and made her way over to the bridge, but she paused, looking back at Riku.

“Sora,” He turned back and looked at her. Kairi pointed at Riku, making Sora look at their best friend,

“Keep him company,” Sora nodded,

“Of course!”

XXX

Riku turned at the sound of footsteps on the sand, and found Kairi walking by him. She smiled at him, but left him be as she made her way to the dock. Riku didn’t really know where she was headed, but he knew she’d be back before they’d have to leave in the morning. The illusion of his replica has disappeared and now Riku sat alone with his thoughts.

They all had been through so much, and tomorrow it could all be over. Riku didn’t know what would come after, and he truly didn’t know what he was going to do with himself after everything he’s been through. Riku didn’t know if he could settle back into simple islander life, not when so much about him has changed and he knew about all the worlds out there, that there was so much more for him to discover.

A shadow passing over his face and someone sitting on the sand right next to him pulled him away from his thought. He turned to find Sora smiling at him, which he returned tentatively, feeling warmth flooding through his chest and his heart skip. That was another thing that changed about Riku while he was gone; he fully understood his feelings for Sora now. Riku was completely in love with his best friend. But it was futile, he knew Sora and Kairi liked each other.

“You okay, Riku?” Sora looked at Riku’s face in concern, and Riku quickly pushed his feelings for Sora to the back of his mind, before nodding. They both turned back to look at the ocean, watching Kairi row away from the play island.

“Where is she going?” Riku asked, glancing at Sora from the corner of his eye.

“Kairi’s headed for the main island. I told her to go see Selphie before we leave,” Sora explained.

“Selphie?” Riku asked, slightly confused. Sora nodded.

“She didn’t explain it much, but she really likes Selphie, they might be girlfriends,” Riku’s eyebrows rose in confusion; he thought Kairi liked Sora.

“And you’re okay with that?” Sora turned away from watching the ocean, tilting his head in confusion.

“Why would I not be okay with it?”

“Don’t you like Kairi?”

“She’s my best friend, of course I like her,”

“Not like that, Sora. Like how Kairi likes Selphie?” Riku didn’t know how to describe the feeling that suddenly filled his heart when he watched Sora shake his head ‘no’.

“Nah, not like that anymore. She’s my best friend nothing more. I’m really happy for her,” Sora gave him a smile before turning back to watch the sun finish setting, and the stars fill the sky. A thought suddenly went through Sora’s head.

“Riku! After we win tomorrow, you should go to the other worlds with me!”

“What?!” Riku turned to find Sora pulling out his gummiphone.

“Yeah! There’s so many places I want to show you. Like this!” Sora shoved his phone into Riku’s face; it’s a selfie, but only half of Sora’s face is shown, the rest of the photo shows of a rat clinging to Sora’s hair.

“Why exactly is there a rat in your hair?”

“That’s Little Chef, he works with Donald’s Uncle Scrooge in a restaurant and makes the best food,” Riku stared at Sora, because he still didn’t explain why the rat was in his hair. But Sora didn’t seem to realize it, because he went to the next picture. Someone else must have taken it because Sora was the main focus in it, dancing in the middle of a town square. A blonde girl was behind him as well, dancing with townspeople.

“This is Corona, we went to a lantern festival and me and Rapunzel got all the villagers to dance with us,” Sora switched the picture again to show Sora dancing with one of the townspeople, a little old lady with a huge smile on her face to match Sora’s.

Over the next couple of minutes, Sora showed Riku a bunch of pictures of the worlds he recently visited. Some of them were actually very appealed to Riku, such as the Caribbean and San Fransokyo. He wouldn’t mind actually going with Sora to these places, because unlike Sora, Riku never actually got to spend much time on the other worlds.

But, there was something holding him back. The huge ‘what if’ of the conclusion of tomorrow, and Riku wanted to voice his concern.

“Sora, what if we don’t-“ Sora placed a hand over Riku’s mouth, the look on his face told Riku that he knew what Riku was thinking. Sora shook his head, looking at the gummiphone in his lap.

“No, what ifs. We will get through tomorrow,” A rush of regret flooded Riku when he noticed the tears in Sora’s eyes. He knew now that Sora was scared for tomorrow as well.

“We will make it through tomorrow, and the next day and the next. I’ll show you and Kairi all the worlds I’ve been to, go on that journey we all wanted before this all started,” Riku lightly grabbed Sora’s wrist to pull his hand away from Riku’s mouth, but didn’t let go of him.

“Okay, Sora. You’re right,” Riku used his other hand to lift Sora’s chin to make Sora look up at him, and Riku gave a shy but reassuring smile.

“We’ll get through tomorrow. Then, you can show me these other worlds,” Riku started to panic as Sora’s tears began to run down his face, but then, Sora pulled him into a hug. Riku returned the hug, albeit slowly.

Tomorrow. He will find a way for all of them to make it through tomorrow, just for Sora.


	2. keyblade graveyard (part one)

Once Riku got Sora to calm down enough, he suggested that they get some sleep. They had to leave at dawn to meet everyone else at the location Yen Sid had sent them. Sora agreed before quickly running over to the Gummi Ship and then running back with a large bundle of cloth. Sora threw something towards Riku; he unfurled it and found it to be a pair of dark green sleep pants and a black shirt that may be a size too big for Riku.

“Those are Goofy’s. He said my stuff may not fit you,” Riku heard Sora say from behind him. He turned to find Sora had placed a blanket and a couple of pillows onto the sand. Sora had, also, quickly changed into a pair of a light blue sleep shorts that had a lightning bolt pattern and a baggy tank top.

“Thanks,” Riku simply replied with a small smile, making a mental note to also thank Goofy in the morning, since the knight was completely right that Sora’s clothes would definitely not fit Riku.

Riku turned away from Sora to change quickly. He held in a laugh when he heard his friend plop down onto the sand. Riku folded his clothes and placed them on the edge of the blanket so sand wouldn’t get into them, and then he pulled his hair from his bun, letting it flow down his back. He sat down next to Sora, leaning back on his arms, staring up at the sky. Both him and Sora star-watched for a few more minutes before exhaustion began to set in, and Riku lowered himself onto the ground.

Riku froze when he felt something lightly brush against his hand, before taking ahold of it. He looked in-between himself and Sora to find that Sora was holding his hand. He could feel a flush grow across his face, and his heart start to beat faster. A rustling noise made Riku look up, and he found Sora looking at him, a tired smile upon his face.

“Night, Riku,” Sora squeezed Riku’s hand right before he drifted off to sleep, snoring lightly. Riku felt himself smile faintly at the boy that held his heart and yet didn’t even know. He fell asleep, facing Sora still and the smile still on his face.

XXX

A clicking noise started to bring Riku back into consciousness, and then he felt a warm weight lying atop his chest. Riku blinked his teal eyes in the dawn light, to find Kairi standing over him with a smile on her face.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Riku only groaned in response, rubbing at his eyes, before looking to see what the weight on his chest was. Riku should be surprised to find Sora lying halfway across his chest, but he really wasn’t, because Riku remembered sleepovers when they were younger and Sora always moved around. What did surprise Riku was that his own arm was wrapped around Sora’s waist. Riku turned his head when he heard the clicking noise again, and found Kairi looking at her own gummiphone. Riku narrowed his eyes, but chose not to ask about it; he carefully moved Sora’s head and limbs off of himself, making Sora grumble in his sleep. Riku and Kairi both rolled their eyes in affection at the brunette.

“I’ll wake him, go wash up and get ready,” She pointed behind her at the freshwater spring. Riku nodded, and began to stand up, stretching as he moved.

Riku stifled his laughter as he listened to Kairi make an attempt at waking Sora. He quickly changed back into his own clothes, and then washed his face. He ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of some of the knots before pulling it back into a ponytail. By the time he was done and mostly awake, Sora was stumbling over to the spring. Riku watched as his friend dunked his entire head into the cool water, and then jumped back as Sora came back up for air, shaking his head to get rid of the excess water making it go everywhere, including Riku.

“Hey!” Sora slightly jumped at Riku’s voice, as if he didn’t realize Riku was there; he probably didn’t, really. Sora gave him a sheepish smile, before he pulled off his night shirt and used it to attempt to dry his hair. Riku turned away from Sora to look at the horizon, seeing the glimpse of orange appearing.

“Finish getting ready, I’m going to get the gummi ship ready,”

Sora said an affirmative as Riku walked away. He pulled out his phone to check his messages, finding one from Yen Sid, one from Mickey, and two from Kairi. The one from Yen Sid was the coordinates for someplace called the Keyblade Graveyard, where the former Master believed the battle would take place. Mickey’s message only told to check Sora’s gummi ship for more potions and ethers in case of emergency. The two from Kairi, though, were photo messages; the first was of both boys asleep, curling into each other, and the other was when Riku realized he was cuddling Sora, with a look of shock on his face. Riku would get Kairi back for this, he thought to himself as he saved both of the images to his phone.

XXX

It didn’t take long for Sora to finish getting ready, and they soon found themselves saying goodbye to their homeworld once more. Sora was at the helm, following the directions to Yen Sid’s coordinates. As they got closer and closer to the Keyblade Graveyard, the space around them became littered with meteoroids of varying sizes, some bigger than worlds at one point, but Sora was able to navigate around them safely. Riku and Kairi both were thankful to whoever taught Sora how to fly the ship. They found themselves approaching the world that held the Graveyard a lot faster than they thought, and quickly entered the atmosphere. Soon as they entered the world, a blip came up on the radar, telling them where other gummi ships were located. Sora made his way over to the location as fast as he could, landing next to what Riku knew was the King’s gummi ship.

The trio, soon, found themselves outside the gummi ship, surrounded by the other Lights, staring at a cavern entrance that Mickey says will lead to the real graveyard. There was a heavy feeling in the air that no one could really name, but everyone could feel it. They took a couple steps forward towards the cavern, but stopped when a loud rumbling could be heard coming from behind them. They turned to find a legion of heartless making their way quickly towards them. Sora, Donald and Goofy ran towards the approaching enemies.

“Go on ahead, we’ll take care of these guys! Donald! Flare!” Riku attempted to argue, but watched as Sora’s Keyblade and Donald’s staff glowed and summoned a bunch of fireworks, setting them off and taking out part of the heartless frontlines. Sora turned back to the group, focusing on Riku, his keyblade glowing blue, changing its form.

“Go!” Riku reluctantly nodded, as did Mickey, before turning on his heel and running into the cavern, the rest of the group following him.

As the group ran through the maze-like cavern, they could hear various sounds of different magicks, as well as what seemed to be carousel music and a train’s steam whistle. Riku didn’t question it, really; Sora’s magic was vastly different than his own. A little further ahead, Riku could see the light; the ending of the cavern. The sounds of magic were fading as well; either Sora ran out of mana or the battle was dwindling down.

The group paused at the exit of the cavern to wait for Sora, Donald and Goofy. Both Riku and Kairi were turned towards the inside of the cave; Kairi resting her hand on Riku’s arm, murmuring to him and herself that Sora was going to be okay. Riku placed his own hand over hers to reassure her.

After a couple of minutes, footsteps could be heard coming towards them, and Sora and his group reappear. He had dirt smudged across his face, as well as his usual grin, making both Kairi and Riku sigh in relief. As Sora’s group paused to rest before they continued forward, Goofy pulled out a couple of ethers and handed them to both Sora and Donald, ruffling Sora’s hair as he drank it. Mickey looked around at everyone, assessing them, mostly focusing on Sora, Donald and Goofy.

“Everyone okay?” Everyone nodded, putting the King’s mind to rest. Mickey turned back to the opening of the cavern, and stepped forward into the light and the vast plain, everyone following behind him.

As everyone looked around, they soon realized why the place was called the Keyblade Graveyard. Thousands of keyblades littered the area around them, and a feeling of anguish filled their chests. They struggled between wanting to know what happened in this place and never wanting to find out what took place for all this death. A dust storm in front of them began to dissipate, showing the group a lone figure standing not far from them. A figure that Ven had apparently recognized, for soon he was running past the group, ignoring as Aqua tried to stop him, shouting,

“Terra!”  He grabbed the person’s arm with a huge smile on his face, but something felt wrong. Aqua went running towards the two as well; she grabbed Ven, pulling him away from ‘Terra’.

“I know you’re not him,” As Sora and the rest of the group caught up to Aqua and Ven, he could see Aqua’s arms shaking slightly as she tried to keep Ven behind her. ‘Terra’ just stared at her, then smirked at her; his hair started to turn white, and when he blinked his eye color shifted to gold. Darkness began to shift around his body, as he gestured to all of the group.

“Today is the day you all lose,” Aqua began to shield Ven even more, as she tried to question the norted version of Terra.

“Before you even face the thirteen, every last one of you will be torn heart from body. But fear not,” Terra lifted his hand, and summoned a keyblade.

“The x-blade will still be forged,” Sora took a couple steps forward,

“We’re not gonna lose to you,” ‘Terra’ simply smirked again, lifting an eyebrow at Sora. And as soon as Sora blinked, Terra was no longer standing where he was before, but now was pushing Aqua out of the way and aiming to strike Ven with his keyblade. The rest of the group could only watch in horror as Ven was sent flying backwards at the force of the blow. Aqua shouted out Ven’s name and started to run towards him. Sora ran past her towards ‘Terra’, summoning his keyblade.

But before Sora could get a hit on ‘Terra’, the norted man released a burst of dark energy sending Sora flying backwards as well. ‘Terra’, then, turned his attention towards Kairi and Lea, running forward, his keyblade ready to strike again. Lea threw himself of Kairi, covering her, and was soon thrown to the side, slamming into a large rock, slumping forward, and now unconscious. Kairi yelled out Lea’s name, before realizing ‘Terra’ was still in front of her, lifting his keyblade up high for another attack.

Sora sprung up from the ground as quickly as he could, running for Kairi, pushing her out of the way, not seeing that Donald and Goofy were close behind him. Goofy defended him from ‘Terra’s’ attack with his shield, sending the norted man flying backwards from the force. Donald began to mutter words under his breath, and began to glow white, a magic circle appearing on the ground beneath him. Goofy shouted for his duck friend to stop, but Donald ignored him, finishing the incantation, pointing his staff at ‘Terra’.

“Zettaflare!” A huge beam of pure white energy came bursting from the staff, hitting ‘Terra’ right in the chest, and then disappearing in the flaring light. The spell lasted for a few more moments, before withering down. Sora stared in shock as the staff fell from Donald’s hand, and the duck sunk to the ground, unconscious, and sparkles of white light surrounding the mage. Goofy and Mickey went running to Donald, calling out his name, and behind him, Sora could hear Aqua say Ven’s. Kairi and Riku both made their way over to check on Lea.

Sora simply stood in shock, something just didn’t feel right to him, a flicker of something uneasy filling his chest. And before he could comprehend what was happening, a dark void appeared on the ground, not far from Mickey, Donald and Goofy. A heartless tower came bursting out from the void, flying into the air. Riku came running over to Sora, placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder, trying to shake the boy from his shock.

“Sora! Pull it together! We haven’t lost them, everyone still has their hearts!” _Braveheart_ appeared in Riku’s hands.

“But now we have to protect them,” That brought Sora back into the present, and he nodded to Riku, agreeing with him. Aqua had stepped forward, standing next to Sora as well.

“We’ll stand together,” Her own keyblade appeared in her hands. Sora, Riku, and Aqua ran forward, ignoring Mickey as he tried to stop them. Aqua turned her head towards him, yelling at Goofy and Kairi as well telling them to protect the others. Mickey tried to reason with her,

“We should all get to safety while we still can,” Riku turned back to the King, shaking his head, pointing towards the cavern behind him.

“It’s too late for that,” Another heartless tower came charging out of where they had once been, surrounding the group on all sides, blocking their way out. The two towers of heartless seem to continue to grow more, circling them, forming into a giant cyclone of heartless; reaching up into the sky making it start to turn black.

Aqua took a couple steps back, at a loss, anxiety and fear filling her chest. She merely stood still as a tendril of heartless came careening towards her, capturing her. A moment later, pain filled Sora’s chest, making him stand in shock once more, watching in horror as more tendrils came bursting from the cyclone.

Riku turned back to the rest of the group, and could only watch in trepidation, as one by one, his friends disappearing as the heartless grabbed them. Sora didn’t even have to look to know they were gone, for with every friend that vanished into the darkness, a burst of pain filled his chest.

Kairi was the last to disappear, and she had shouted out Riku and Sora’s names, making the boys look at her. Tears filling Sora’s eyes as she disappeared into the darkness. A gut-wrenching scream came bellowing out of Sora, as he fell to his knees, almost bringing Riku to tears as well. Riku watched as Sora began to curl into himself, crying still; he took a few steps forward, saying Sora’s name. Sora shook his head.

“They’re gone. Gone forever,” Sora looked up to Riku, tears streaming down his face.

“What do we do?” Sora grabbed Riku’s wrist in an attempt to keep himself grounded.

“Without them…I…” Sora pushed his head into Riku’s chest, making the silverette wrap an arm around him.

“All my strength comes from them. They gave it all to me. But, they’re not here anymore,” Riku watched as Sora touched his chest where his heart is.

“Alone…I’m worthless…” That phrase broke Riku’s heart, and he willed himself to not cry.

“We’ve lost, it’s over,” Riku tightened his hold around Sora’s shoulders, as he made his resolve. Soon, he released Sora from his hold, standing up and turned to face towards the heartless entity. As Riku took steps forward, he spoke to Sora,

“Sora, you don’t believe that. I know you don’t,” Sora sat up, trying to grab Riku to pull him back, but Riku stepped out of his range. Another tendril of heartless came barreling out towards the duo. Riku got into his stance to fight off the heartless; his aim struck true as he protected himself and Sora from the tendril, making the heartless go flying around them. But Riku struggled against the force of the stream of heartless that kept coming.

Sora watched as Riku’s body begun to flicker, as the boy continued to protect them from the heartless. Sora shouted out Riku’s name, raising a hand towards him. The pain in his chest, this time, was gradual, and this time Sora watched as Riku vanished into the darkness. Sora didn’t even have time to react as the heartless came rushing towards him.

XXX

Consciousness came to Sora slowly, and he found himself staring up a clear blue sky. He sat up slowly, a feeling of wrongness settling into his chest. He looked around, and all he could see was still water and blue sky; he cautiously made his way up to his feet. Where was he?

Sora wandered as much as he could, but the scenery never changed, just water and sky. A disembodied voice made him pause.

“Can’t stay away now, can you?” Sora looked around, trying to find where the voice came from, before looking up to find something floating down towards him. A small ball of light set down on the ground in front of him before transforming into a gray cat-like creature wearing a white cape and a pink coin purse.

“The name’s Chirithy, and welcome to The Final World,” Sora raised an eyebrow,

“I’m Sora, what’s ‘The Final World’?” Chirithy gestured to all around them, before explaining,

“There’s nothing else beyond this. You’ve wandered here more than once before on your visits to the Station of Awakening, but I’ve let that slide,” Chirithy’s words only confused Sora more.

Station of Awakening, that sounded familiar but also it didn’t. He didn’t have time to question the cat creature before they began to speak more.

“The edges of sleep and death touch, and one can’t help the occasional crossover,” One of Chirithy’s words stuck out to Sora.

“Wait, ‘death’?” Chirithy only nodded.

“Yes. The natural end for those whose hearts and bodies perish together. But some persist, and arrive here,” Sora placed a hand on his chest, that could explain the wrongness of his body.

“My heart and body perished? Does that mean…” Chirithy nodded.

“Something is holding you here, refusing to let you go. You’re hanging on by a thread,”

“What about my friends?” Chirithy shook their head.

“I’m afraid that no one else arrived with you. And if they’re not here, they’re either gone forever, or they’re clinging onto the world you came from,” That filled Sora with hope.

“I’m going back!” He shouted, summoning his keyblade, making Chirithy jump slightly. Before Sora could run away from the creature, they shouted at him.

“Whoa, wait! How exactly? You can’t just wander out like your other visits,” Sora turned towards them, confused.

“I told you. The other times you came here by your own choice. This time is very different. To become your old self again, and return to the real world, you will have to piece yourself back together in this world first,” At Chirithy’s words, Sora finally looked down at his own body, finding that he was transparent.

“Why am I in pieces?!” Chirithy shook their head at his antics.

“No, not literally, of course. You’re conceptually in pieces. On the inside, who knows, but on the outside you’re just fine,” Chirithy’s words were still confusing to Sora, but they somewhat made sense. He released his keyblade, turning to the creature fully.

“Oh, okay. You kinda freaked me out there,” His words only made Chirithy shake their head at him, and mutter something under their breath. They, then, pointed at Sora.

“Usually, only a heart can reach The Final World. But since you’ve clearly managed to retain some kind of form, that can only mean your body was cast into this world as well,” Sora rubbed his nose, thinking the words over.

“Okay so…then if I can find my body, that means I’ll be able to go back?” Chirithy nodded their head.

“Precisely. But there’s a lot of you to find. You’re going to be busy,” As Chirithy spoke, they gestured to all around them, and various versions of Sora began to appear, simply walking around. Chirithy explained that the other Soras were simply phantoms of himself, and he only had to touch them to collect them.

As Sora ran around, he saw stars floating around. One talked about fading away, another talked about no one missing them or grieve for them. One talked about a rival smiling at them and wanting to fight that person once more, and then, another called out his name.

“It’s me, Namine,” Namine told Sora that she woke up in The Final World when Kairi disappeared into the darkness, and even though Namine was no longer in Kairi’s heart, she could still feel Kairi. She told Sora that Kairi was fighting with all her strength to keep from fading away, and that Kairi holding on was one of the reasons Sora was able to retain his form; the others must be helping him as well.

“Go to them. Help them,”

“But what about you? I can’t just leave you stuck here,” Namine seemed to pause in surprise; even at the brink of death, Sora worried about others.

“It will be okay. I came from Kairi, and once she’s safe again, I’ll return to her,”

“Namine, I know I’m supposed to thank you. The data ‘me’ didn’t count, I need to say them myself…but, not like this. Both you and Roxas can’t tell me you’re okay with this. I know you are both hurting, trapped inside mine and Kairi’s hearts. I felt that pain through Roxas,” What Namine said next made Sora’s heart break a little,

“He’s the one they all miss…Not me,” Sora shook his head.

“Wrong! What about me, Kairi, Donald and Goofy? The King! Roxas too, he misses you. I won’t let you down, we’ll bring you back,” Namine paused in surprise again, before she giggled.

“Sora. Thank you.” Sora smiled again.

“Well, I’m going to go save Kairi, so you can at least be free of this place. Okay?” Sora turned away from Namine’s floating star to walk towards the portal Chirithy summoned when Sora collected the phantoms that rested in this place. But, Namine shouted out for him to wait.

“When I was sifting through memories, I was able to speak to Terra, the keyblade wielder you were looking for. He has a strong will, and it keeps him tethered to the realm of light. I’ll try tracing that connection. Maybe that’ll be enough to tip the scales in the other direction,” Sora tilted his head in confusion. Namine giggled at him once more.

“Let’s just say, I’ve got your back,” Sora smiled at the floating star.

“Thanks Namine! Oh! Wait! That’s not the official thank you!” Both he and Namine laughed together.

“I’ll see you soon,” Sora sent the star once last smile, before making his way to Chirithy’s portal, and just as his hand made contact with it, he heard Namine whisper to him,

“Be careful,”

XXX

When Sora touched down on the other side of Chirithy’s portal, structures began to spring up from the ground around him. One appeared right below his feet, lifting him up towards the sky, and giving him an excellent viewpoint of the area around him. Pieces of himself began to appear everywhere, and now they were doing various things; he could versions of himself dancing like he had once done in Corona, others were gliding through the air, and so on and so forth. Sora wondered to himself, how many more did he have to collect for him to be whole again?

Sora did not know how much time had passed by, as he collected the pieces of himself, but he could see that he wasn’t transparent anymore. As soon as he touched the next phantom, another portal appeared not far from him; maybe he was finally ready to return. Sora walked over to the portal, placing his palm onto it.

Sora appeared back in front of Chirithy, and he quickly checked over himself; everything seemed to be in order and fine.

“I see that you found them all,” Sora nodded, agreeing with Chirithy.

“So, I guess it’s time you left,” Sora kneeled down to be eye level with Chirithy.

“What about you? Would you like me to help you find your pieces?” Chirithy blinked in surprise; this boy was truly selfless. Chirithy shook their head.

“I don’t work like that,” Sora frowned at that. He really didn’t want to leave Chirithy behind all by themself.

“So, you’re waiting for someone to rescue you?” Chirithy rubbed their head at the question.

“Sort of?” Sora grabbed Chirithy’s tiny paws.

“Tell me who! I’ll find them for you!” Chirithy shook their head again, taking their paws out of Sora’s hands.

“No…no, that’s okay. He doesn’t remember the past. Besides, I’m sure that he’s much happier with his new friends,” Chirithy looked around at the vast wasteland of water and sky.

“But I’ll wait. He’ll arrive here one day,” Sora frowned at that; not liking that Chirithy felt so resigned to their fate, but he accepted that they wouldn’t tell him who they were waiting for. He petted Chirithy’s head.

“I’ll be back to visit you,” He smiled at Chirithy’s surprise.

“Yup, you and me are friends now,” Chirithy nuzzled into Sora’s hand, having missed contact with a person, their eyes closed in contentment.

“I’ve missed having friends,” Sora pulled the small creature into a hug.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?” He felt Chirithy nod their head, before he released them from the hug. He gave them one more pat to the head, before standing up.

“I need to head back…and thank you for your help,” Sora walked a couple steps away from Chirithy, before he turned back, rubbing the back of his head, sheepishly.

“Could I, uh, get a hint on how to save the others?” Chirithy shook their head at him in amusement.

“Seriously?! You’re a Keyblade wielder, aren’t ya? Haven’t you already learned how to restore someone’s heart after it’s been lost?” Sora scratched at his head,

“Restore their hearts? Is that the same as the ‘power of waking’?” Chirithy shrugged, they weren’t quite sure.

“I’m not sure, but give it a shot?” Sora nodded, placing a hand over his heart, before summoning his keyblade. He opened a keyhole to unlock a portal that connected his heart to his friends. Right before he hopped through, Chirithy shouted out to him,

“Look for the light in the darkness!” Sora turned and smiled at Chirithy once more, before heading into the portal.

XXX

A flash of memory appeared in Sora’s mind; of Riku sacrificing himself to save Sora from the heartless hoard. It was gone quickly, and Sora found himself, gliding in vast blackness. Soon, a light appeared at the end of the blackness; it felt warm and strong and Sora reached out for it, calling out Riku’s name. It had to be Riku’s heart.

The light got closer and closer, before it envelops Sora, making him close his eyes at the brightness. He felt his feet hit solid ground, making him stumble slightly. Sora opened his eyes to a familiar world.

Mount Olympus. But it felt off, something not quite right about the place, but he still walked up the steps towards the Realm of Gods. He looked around as he climbed the staircase.

“There’s no one here,” Sora said to himself, but soon he felt the hood of his jacket move and a familiar voice call out to him.

“Gee, Sora, I’m here,” Soon, Jiminy hopped out of his hood and onto his shoulder; Sora held his hands up for Jiminy to hop into them.

“You’re okay!”

“Well, ‘okay’ might be a stretch, but what are we waiting for?” He pointed at Sora’s heart.

“We need to find the other,” Sora smiled down at his cricket friend, nodding at him. He placed Jiminy onto his shoulder, and waited for him to get back into Sora’s hood before moving forward up the stairs.

The entranceway to the Realm of Gods came into view, and Sora ran forward into the doorway. Up ahead, he could see the pedestal that greeted him every time he came to this part of the world.

And above floated Riku.

As Sora took steps forward to help his friend, and send him back to the Graveyard, a giant heartless appeared from the sky, and floated over towards Riku. It placed the wand that it held in its hands over top of Riku’s chest. It made a swirling motion over Riku, and lifted the staff towards the sky, pulling Riku’s heart from his chest. Chains appeared around Riku’s heart, and the heartless stared at Sora, as it made the heart vanish into thin air, before running further into the world.

Sora felt anger fill his chest, and he chased after the heartless. He was able to attack the heartless enough for it to release Riku’s heart; Sora placed a hand on Riku’s heart, breaking away the chains.

“Go back to the Graveyard, wait for me there,” Riku’s heart glowed a little brighter, before it floated up into the sky, disappearing. The heartless watched Riku’s heart disappear, before making a portal appear behind it, and it quickly ran away into the portal. This heartless was possible after the rest of his friends, so Sora ran forward into the portal as well.

XXX

Sora found himself gliding in the blackness again, and ahead of him were the others’ lights. But, the heartless that was after his friends continued to attempt to steal their hearts. Sora just had to keep fighting it.

He found Kairi in Destiny Islands, floating above the detached island they always liked to sit.

Aqua was in the Caribbean, floating overtop Sora’s pirate ship.

Goofy appeared in the ice fortress Larxene conjured in Arendelle.

Donald was floating above the lobby of Monsters Inc.

Ven had materialized in front of the crane machine in the toy shop.

Mickey hovered in the dark part in the forest of Corona.

Lea was levitating over the streets of San Fransokyo.

As he sent the last of his friends’ hearts back towards the Keyblade Graveyard, and vanquished the heartless, a portal of darkness appeared in front of him and Young Xehanort appeared in front of him. Sora readied his keyblade in case of an attack.

“All that gallivanting through the Sleeping Worlds, and yet you learned nothing,” Sora tilted his head in confusion; he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong like he did in the Mastery test. Young Xehanort shook his head.

“Dream by dream, you nearly buried yourself in the dark of sleep. And now you’re at it again?” Sora looked around at the world of San Fransokyo; this was the sleeping version of this world? Xehanort took a few steps closer to Sora.

“The Lich you’ve been fighting, it’s not like other Heartless. It exists to usher hearts down to the depths of darkness. If you chase it, you will condemn your heart to that same abyss,” Xehanort was standing right in front of Sora now, pointing at Sora’s heart. Sora placed a hand over his heart.

“My heart is strong,” Xehanort appeared to laugh at Sora’s statement.

“What do you think the power of waking is? It’s for traversing hearts to reach worlds, not for traversing worlds to reach hearts. There is a high price to pay for wielding such power foolishly,” Xehanort shook his head at Sora, before turning to walk away. Sora shouted out to him.

“So what? You’re worried about me now?” Xehanort chuckled once more, shaking his head.

“No, there’s no saving you. You’ve paid the price. And now you lie at the bottom of the abyss,” Xehanort walked back into his portal of darkness, leaving Sora in the sleeping San Fransokyo. Jiminy jumped onto Sora’s shoulder, shaking the boy from his thoughts.

“Don’t listen to him, Sora. We can’t trust him,” Sora nodded, and he soon felt his heart tugging him forward, urging him to follow it. All of his friends had made it back to the Keyblade Graveyard, the power they granted him restored fully.

Sora summoned his keyblade and opened one more portal. Finding himself back in the blackness, ahead of him now stood 8 bright lights. One by one, they combined together, forming one big light that transformed into the end of the portal. Sora glided into the light, letting it surround him.

Sora let himself float down to solid ground before he opened his eyes. He smiled hugely, as all his friends smiled back at him. Sora ignored the tears falling from his eyes as he tackled Kairi and Riku into a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I divided the Keyblade Graveyard into two parts, because so much happens there. So the next part will have the final battle.
> 
> I hope I did okay with this chapter, and the changes I made for this part of the fix-it. There's more to come!!!
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the delay in chapter; college midterms came up, and my health had some issues, but I should be okay for right now. I'm going to start to work on the next chapter soon, and have it out as soon as I can.
> 
> I post tidbits of upcoming things that will appear in the story on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/) if y'all want to see that. Or you can ask me things on my [ tumblr](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Anyway, see you soon!
> 
> Oh, wait! Break a tie for me, please? Comment below on which eye color you'd prefer Vanitas to have once he's freed from Xehanort: hazel or red?


	3. keyblade graveyard (part two)

Once Sora stopped crying enough, checking over his childhood friends, he jumped up and checked on everyone else; his smile grew and grew when he found that they were all okay.

“So it did work!” Donald hopped up into Sora’s viewpoint.

“Of course it did,” Goofy ruffled Sora’s hair once more, a smile on his face.

“Now, just point us back at those guys,” Sora grinned in response, nodding his head. Everyone turned to walk back into the cavern leading to the graveyard, but Riku stood back, letting himself check over Sora. Sora paused in his walk, and gave Riku a questioning look.

“Are you sure you’re okay? What you did couldn’t have been easy,” Riku said, taking a few steps closer to Sora. Sora thought himself over; he could feel his power and strength had returned fully, but a small part of him felt weighted down. Though, he didn’t tell Riku that, only gave him a reassuring smile.

“Yup, I’m fine!”

XXX

The fake Terra stood where he had before, but before he could make an attack against anyone this time, something heavy dropped to the ground. When the dust settled around the new person, both Aqua and Ven gasped in surprise.

“That’s Terra’s…” Sora looked over the suit of armor; he felt like he had once seen it before but couldn’t quite place it. The fake Terra looked angry over the armor’s appearance, and moved to make a strike against him. The armor had quickly summoned a keyblade of its’ own, and was able to parry the attack. Then, it hit Sora; Namine’s message about Terra, she was able to get him to come help. A voice spoke from the armor,

“Got you, Xehanort,” Aqua and Ven were looking at each other when they heard the voice, elated and surprised, and confirmed Sora’s theory that this was Terra. The real Terra was able to knock the fake away from the group, only making the fake madder.

“This is impossible!” Terra shook his head, stepping forward.

“How I’ve waited for this moment,” Terra’s keyblade shone white, and the blade part seemed to stretch like a whip. Terra quickly moved his arm, and the whip was now wrapped around the fake, who started to struggle. But Terra didn’t give the fake much time to attempt an escape before throwing him into the air. The whip form was released, and morphed into a giant cannon gun, shooting a beam of energy into the fake Terra’s chest. Terra jumped and began his attack against the fake once more.

Ven had wanted to follow after the Terras, but Aqua made him stop when she felt the ground rumbling again. She looked up, making everyone else look too. Heartless. They began to pour out of the cavern as well, like last time. Another heartless tower shot out of the ground behind them as well. Sora, Donald and Goofy ran towards the tower, while the others to take care of the ones coming from the cavern.

As the fight continued on, the heartless began to form the giant cyclone once more. However, it seemed somewhat larger than last time. Sora could hear Donald and Goofy ask him what they should do next, but he could, also, hear the fear in their voice. He was going to let this thing hurt his friends again.

“I’ll take care of it,” And Sora ran forward.

XXX

Riku could only watch in astonishment, as the keyblades that were scattered across the graveyard began to float and make their way towards Sora; some were even attacking the heartless cyclone. He watched as Sora jumped into the air, landing on one of the blades, and flew through the air.

Both Sora and the wave of keyblades began to wither down the cyclone to the point that its core could be seen. Sora had been able to make the final blow, making the huge hoard of heartless completely disappear.

Sora landed a few feet away from the group, his own keyblade in hand, but in the other, he held a new keychain that he quickly pocketed. He, then, turned to find the keyblades that helped him fly now circled above him; he sent a smile to the sky, and waved,

“Thank you!” The keyblades danced in the air for a few moments, and then one by one, they turned into pure light and scattered across the sky. Once that happened, Riku took off running towards Sora.

“Sora!” Sora turned at Riku’s voice, the smile on his face was dazzling and infectious, making Riku and the rest smile back at him. Mickey looked up the sky, where the keyblades had once been.

“What was that?” Aqua answered him,

“Keyblade wielders from the past,” Sora nodded at her statement.

“They wanted to help,” Ven had smiled at Sora’s statement.

“It’s the light of the past,” Everyone placed a hand over their hearts, thanking the past wielders and wished them a peaceful afterlife.

It was, then after, Kairi noticed someone was making their way towards the group from further inside the graveyard. Her gasp made everyone else turn to look as well; when the dust cleared, Riku found himself staring at a past version of himself. Mickey quickly explained that Xehanort took control over people he influenced in the past, making them part of his thirteen darkness. The Dark Riku laughed childishly, as darkness began to swirl around him and a dark shadow lifted from him into the sky, towering over the keyblade wielders. Xigbar appeared next to him, a smirk upon his face, patted the Dark Riku on his shoulder.

“You’re going to have to prove that you’re ready for us. Take it away, kid,” Xigbar disappeared, just as the Dark Riku nodded at him and smirked; Dark Riku let loose another burst of dark energy, making the shadow figure turn into more heartless towers surrounding the group of wielders. The younger version of Riku winked at his present self before also disappearing into a portal of darkness, leaving the group to fight off the new hoard of heartless. Heartless began to rain down from the sky, and each member of the group attacked when one jumped close.

“Circle up! Now!” Riku heard Aqua yell, and he quickly jumped back, forming the circle with the rest, so no one’s back was facing an attack. Mickey looked uneasy at the new swarm of heartless, and began to mutter an incantation under his breath; Riku knew what spell Mickey was going to try to use and grabbed the King’s keyblade, making the mouse look at him. Riku shook his head,

“If you try to use time magic against these numbers, you won’t have enough strength for the final battle,” Mickey wanted to argue as he watched from the corner of his eye as other members of the group fended off more heartless, but he knew the boy was right and released the spell, lowering his keyblade.

Aqua tried to suggest that she would break through the horde, but Ven wouldn’t let her without his help, but others began to voice their doubts that no one would truly break through the wave of heartless. Just when the group thought they were going to be overrun by heartless, a bright light parted the darkness of the sky and landed right in front of them, destroying a good chunk of heartless.

Yen Sid stood proudly, with a look of imposing displeasure on his face. The old Master didn’t even react to Mickey calling out his name, as white light envelops around his hands. He lifted his hands towards the sky, and a circle of pure light surrounded the group; a force field of light that kept the heartless away. Yen Sid moved one of his hands downward, aiming towards further into the graveyard, and created a pathway with the shield for the group.

“Go, my young champions. I will hold them all here for as long as I can,” Mickey ran up to his master.

“We’re not going to leave you behind!” Standing behind Sora, both Donald and Goofy looked at each other, the same resolve upon their faces. The court magician and the knight commander ran up beside the former keyblade master. The two looked at the group of keyblade wielders,

“You guys go on” Donald said, Goofy nodded with the duck’s saying,

“Me and Donald will stay here. The two of us’ll back up Master Yen Sid,” Sora took a few steps closer to his companions, worry written across his face,

“Donald…Goofy…” Donald placed a hand over Sora’s, a smile on his face.

“You’re a whole pint by yourself, Sora” Goofy ruffled the boy’s hair in affection once more, before saying,

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch up with you in just a bit,” Sora really wanted to argue, he didn’t want to leave them behind, but he knew they had both made their decision. Sora nodded,

“Okay, be safe,” Donald and Goofy nodded at their boy, just as Master Yen Sid turned towards the group.

“Make haste!” With the master’s words, Sora ran forward, leading the group further into the graveyard.

XXX

As the keyblade wielders got further and further away from their start point, the heartless started to disappear, and all they could see was the vast desert wasteland filled with forgotten keyblades. They soon found themselves stand at a pathway crossroads, and a group of people were walking towards them from the other side. Thirteen people to be exact.

With the exception of Xehanort, each person had their hood of the coats up so no one could know who the rest of the thirteen were. One was shorter than Kairi, while another was almost as tall as Lea, but that was all they had to go on.

“Today, we these other wielders and leave our mark on fate,” Xehanort gestured to the keyblades all around them, before looking back at the opposite group, a sneer across his face.

“I have waited patiently, but together, we shall unlock the Keyblade War’s secrets,” Sora only wanted to know why the war had caused so much death. He forced himself to not jump in surprise when Xehanort summoned his own keyblade, aiming it at the group of light and then at the sky.

“Now we forge it. The ultimate key…the x-blade,” Pinkish energy formed at the top of Xehanort’s keyblade, and then he slammed it into the ground, sending a spell outwards and all around them. It felt like an earthquake was breaking apart the world, but soon walls were lifted out of the ground and upwards towards the sky, the thirteen on top of one of the walls, leaving the six of light on the ground.

They found themselves trapped in a maze, and everyone ran forward into different directions.

XXX

Sora found himself helping Riku at the first interval of the maze. His enemies were Ansem the Seeker of Darkness, the Possessed Riku, and Xigbar.

Ansem sent out a burst of dark energy, before floating up into the sky. Riku had tried to stop him, but the possessed Riku had knocked him back down to the ground; Ansem disappearing right as Riku hit the ground. Sora ran over to his friend to help him stand back up, but soon had to shield them both from the bullets of Xigbar’s gun. Sora ignored Xigbar’s mouthy quips of trying to goad them back into the battle, as he helped Riku stand, casting a small cura over him.

Riku and Sora looked at each other, having a quick conversation with their eyes, before darting forward to attack; Sora to Xigbar, and Riku to his counterpart.

Sora was able to dispatch Xigbar fairly quickly with Riku aiming a few spells to aid him. Darkness began to encompass the eyepatched man as he fell to his knees, dropping his energy guns. Behind Sora, he could hear the Rikus pausing in their battle. Xigbar looked at the keyblade in Sora’s hands, and shook his head, glancing at his gun.

“Figures, if I had a keyblade, it’d be different,” That brought a frown to Sora’s face.

“Like you’re actally worthy to use one,” Sora knew that everyone had been through so much to feel worthy of their keyblades; Xigbar had constantly been attacking Sora since he woke up in Twilight Town two years past. Why would a keyblade chose someone so mean? Then, again, Xigbar could become an entirely different person once he was freed from Xehanort, like Lea had. Xigbar only chuckled at Sora’s comment.

“Oh, I am worthy,” Sora rose in an eyebrow in confusion.

“What do you mean?” Xigbar shakenly made his way back onto his feet, using one of his guns as a crutch to keep him upright.

“The old coot promised to bequeath me his. Why else do you think I would ever put up with all his nonsense?” Sora almost jumped in surprise when Riku spoke up right beside him.

“It’d be wasted on you,” Xigbar only rolled his eyes at the silverette’s statement.

“As if,” The man took a few steps backwards, creating a portal of darkness, disappearing inside. But, he hadn’t done very far; the portal reappeared on top of the maze wall in front of them. The man saluted and smirked at the two teenagers, before he took several steps backwards, falling off the wall into the unseen hollow in the ground below. They knew he was truly gone when his weapons disappeared from where had left them.

But the possessed version of Riku did not give them to wonder about Xigbar’s fate, as he attacked as soon as the energy guns faded from existence.

Dark Riku was a tough opponent with his constant dark magic attacks and quick footwork, but since both Sora and Riku were now able to work with each other side by side, they were able to deal with Dark Riku as swiftly as they could; though Sora was now running low on potions.

Dark Riku had dropped his blade and stared at his hands, as darkness began to swirl around him.

“You’re not…real…” Riku looked at his possessed self in confusion.

“I’m…the real one…” Dark Riku sounded so desperate, as he couldn’t comprehend that he had lost to the real version of him. Riku questioned the dark version of himself; wasn’t he the Riku from when he had been possessed from Ansem? Sora watched surprise when Riku’s chest started to glow, and another version of Riku seemed to appear next to the keyblade master. Sora saw that this new Riku was a light-consumed version of the dark one they had just fought. The Light Riku placed a hand on his real counterpart’s shoulder, shaking his head at Riku’s question.

“No, you beat Ansem, and you’re still here. This guy…is me!” The Light Riku floated into the air, and flew forward, plunging his hand through Dark Riku’s chest, sending out a giant burst of dark energy.

“I knew it. It’s a replica. A soon-to-be empty vessel. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this,” The Light Riku seemingly disappeared into the chest, and more dark energy swirled around the replica. The body fell to the ground but both Light and Dark Riku were hovering in the air; the Dark Riku was struggling, attempting to be let go, but Light Riku held tight.

Riku looked between the body on the ground and his counterparts, and yelled up to the light version.

“Hey, what are you doing? Take the vessel,” Sora stood to the side, still really confused by all the Rikus. He watched as the Light Riku shook his head ‘no’ and turned to the real Riku, a sad smile on his face.

“The world already has you. There’s someone else who needs the replica more. You know who I mean,” Namine’s name was the first one that came to Sora’s mind, and Riku quickly confirmed it.

“Namine, you’re saving her,” The smile on Light Riku’s face became more nostalgic, nodding. It made Sora wonder how the two knew each other.

“Keep her safe. Good luck,” Both Light and Dark Riku began to fade out of existence, their energies dispersing into the air. Sora walked over to Riku, who just stared up to the sky, a mournful expression on his face; Sora lightly touched Riku’s arm, making his friend look at him.

“Are you okay?” Riku nodded, not really trusting himself to speak. They both made their way over to the replica vessel on the ground, and Riku kneeled down to inspect it.

“It’s really damaged. Hopefully, Ienzo may know what to do,” Sora looked at the body on the ground, trying his hardest to not be creeped out by it. Riku stood back up, leaving the replica where it laid.

“We’re going to have leave it here, until the end,”

Sounds of more fighting reached his ear, and he and Riku looked at each other, nodding at the unsaid agreement.

“I’ll meet you at the end,” Riku said, before he ran to one pathway, when Sora ran to another.

XXX

Sora found Mickey in the adjacent interval to Riku’s, and found the King fighting against Larxene, Luxord and Marluxia. Both Larxene and Marluxia stepped to the sidelines when Sora stepped onto the battleground.

Luxord made the King disappear into one of his cards and had Sora play a game of chance to get him back. Sora had a few missteps, but he was eventually able to defeat Luxord at his game, and return the king. Before Luxord faded away, he handed Sora a card, confusing the boy. A smile on Luxord’s face was friendly, making Sora smile as well.

“You were made for these kind of games. That’s a wild card. You’ve earned it. Hang onto it, could turn the tables,” Sora took a couple steps towards the nobody, before he fully disappeared.

“Luxord, let’s play another game when you return,” Luxord smiled at that, nodding.

“I should like that very much, Sora. Be safe,” Before Sora could say another thing else, the card master disappeared, fading away, but he had a feeling that he’d see Luxord again soon.

Marluxia and Larxene did not hestitate to begin to attack once more; Sora had to run off to the side to heal himself up some, while the King distracted the two. Once Sora felt he was ready, he flew back into the fight, protecting Mickey’s back from a swipe of Marluxia’s scythe. Together, Mickey and Sora were able to defeat both nobodies fairly quickly.

Marluxia talked about how he regained his memories of his past life at Sora’s final blow. He placed a hand where his heart should be, and told Sora,

“My heart is remembering how to feel,”

“Really that’s good,”

“I’m going to reclaim my identity…my purpose for being. All thanks to you, Sora,” Marluxia looked over to Larxene, who was still fighting Mickey some, but it would soon be over for her as well.

“We’ll find her, when we return,” Sora tilted his head in confusion.

“Find who?” Marluxia gave Sora a sad smile, and shook his head, telling Sora he didn’t have much time left.

“I’ll help you, ok? Whoever you’re trying to find, I’ll help look,” Marluxia sent the keyblade wielder a thankful look, and one last smile, before he fully faded away.

Sora looked over when he heard Larxene cry out in pain, and he found the girl now kneeling on the ground, dark energy hovering around her. She was fading away now too; Sora walked over to her, and kneeled to make himself eyelevel with her.

“You’re going to be recompleted,” Larxene looked down at the ground, and let out a huff.

“I didn’t ask you for your garbage opinion,” She hugged herself, looking slightly scared.

“I lost. To all of you…but it could be worse, I guess,” She looked up at the tall cliff where Xehanort stood, glaring at him.

“Become that geezer’s heart tank? No thanks,” Sora reached out a hand,

“Then why help him?” Larxene looked over to Marluxia had disappeared, before placing a finger over her mouth, a teasing smile upon her face.

“My secret. See you soon, Sora,” Her body finally fully vanished, leaving Sora still slightly bewildered. Mickey walked over to the boy, and placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking him from his thoughts. More fighting could be heard further into the maze. Mickey gave Sora a reassuring smile, before heading to a new path. Sora took a moment to heal himself up some more, before standing, turning towards where the fighting sounds were coming from. He ran forward.

XXX

The next crossroads Sora came across showed him two different fights; to the left, Aqua and Ven were fighting against Vanitas and the fake Terra, while to the right, he could see Kairi and Lea fight against Saix and a cloaked figure. He took one step forward towards the Aqua/Ven fight when he heard Kairi cry out in pain, making him run towards her instead.

Sora entered the fight against Saix and the cloaked figure, but first sending a cura over Lea and Kairi. They both looked over their shoulders in surprise, but thankful. Sora could see Xemnas floating over this part of the maze, watching the fight.

Throughout the fight, Lea tried to reason with Saix, and wouldn’t let Sora help him with his fight, so Sora focused on helping Kairi with the cloaked figure. But before Sora and Kairi could knock the cloaked person out of the fight, Saix released a burst of blue energy, knocking them to the side. Lea stepped in front of them to shield them from a future attack.

“Stop it! Isa!” But, Saix was in his battle beserker mode and didn’t listen to reason, and hit Lea with his claymore, knocking him down to his knees. Before Saix could go in for another attack, a corridor of darkness appeared besides the blue haired nobody, and Xemnas stepped out.

“There was a time when I trusted you to deal with traitors. And now, your betrayal outstrips them all. What final words do you have for your superior?” Xemnas said, as he made his way over to Lea. Lea had smirked in response.

“Well, let me think about it. How about, ‘You were never my superior’” Behind Lea, Sora and Kairi made their way back to their feet, but stayed where they were, though they were ready to intervene if needed; but Lea had known and held out a hand, telling them to stay back.

“Ah, ever the rogue pawn. Knocked from the board early in the game. Utterly useless and forgotten,” Lea had laughed at Xemnas’s words.

“You kidding? Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rooting for me. Sorry, boss. No one axes Axel. Got it memorized?” On slightly unsteady feet, Lea pushed himself off the ground and went running for Xemnas, his keyblade ready to strike. But, before Lea could even land a hit, Xemnas had grabbed the blade before it touched his shoulder.

“Is this supposed to be a Keyblade? Or is it some sort of joke?” From where Sora and Kairi stood, they could hear the blade begin to crack under the pressure and strength of Xemnas’s hand, and watched as Lea struggled to get his blade away from the man. But, it was futile, for the blade soon disappeared in a flare of fire and knocking Lea backwards.

Before Lea could even react, Xemnas surrounded him with a dome of energy lights. Sora could remember this attack from the raid on The Castle That Never Was, and how much it could hurt, but he could only stand to the side and watch as Lea was hit by the lights. Lea fell to his knees once more, as Xemnas summoned a light blade to his hand, and took a few steps forward towards Lea.

“Our plans have been dashed by you, far more times than I care to count. Now it ends. I will purge that light in you…with darkness,” Xemnas brought his arm back to make the last strike against Lea, but he was stopped just before he could kill him.

By the unknown cloaked figure, grabbing the blade with their hand. Xemnas looked at the person in slight surprise, and a raised eyebrow.

“Changing sides again?” It was, then, the person spoke.

“We need him alive. You know that,” Sora blinked at the voice, it was a girl’s voice, but it felt so familiar somehow, but he didn’t know who she was. Xemnas scoffed at the girl’s statement.

“We only need his heart in order to forge the key. We do not need his soul,” Xemnas paused, before smirking, looking at the girl.

“Oh…but that’s right. You were ‘friends’. Then…you take his life,” Xemnas said with a sarcastic laugh, stepping away from both the girl and Lea. The girl stood in front of Lea, and Sora could see her hands shaking from where he stood. Lea looked up at the girl,

“Who are you?” The girl summoned her own blade, Sora finally realizing it was exactly like his keyblade, and aimed at Lea; the blade shaking just as much as her hands. Sora couldn’t take it anymore, he made his way over as quickly but calmly as he could. He grabbed the girl’s blade, making her look at him, her face still covered by her hood.

“You don’t have to do this,” The girl gasped at Sora’s words, taking a slight step back. She yanked her keyblade out of Sora’s grip and made an attack, Sora only shielded himself with his own keyblade, holding steady as she made strike after strike. She put all her weight in one more attack, struggling against Sora’s steady hold.

“It’s all right, you can stop now!” Sora felt himself start to cry; a mix of a part of him that was sad for the girl and upset of what the girl was being put through. The girl paused at Sora’s voice once more.

“It’s all right…Xion,” Sora ignored that his voice sounded slightly different than usual, when a part of him told him the girl’s name. At hearing her name, Xion let out a sob and dropped her keyblade. Sora released his own blade, and pull the girl into a hug, letting her sob into his chest.

“It’s going to be okay,” Sora felt Xion wrap her arms around him as she began to sob harder. Sora sent a glare over towards Xemnas, but before he could, Xemnas quickly disappeared and reappeared behind Xion.

“Useless puppet,” A hard kick to Xion’s back sent both her and Sora flying backwards, Sora cushioned her fall to keep Xion from getting hurt more. But, the blow had made Xion’s hood fall from her head, revealing her face. Sora sat back up, holding Xion, and saw Lea holding his head in slight pain, before he shouted out her name. Xemnas walked over to Sora and Xion, but Sora found himself being kicked to the side away from Xion, as Xemnas summoned another light blade.

He paused, looking down at the ground at Lea trying to hold him back from hurting Xion.

“Your keyblade is no more. And still you think you can play at being a guardian of light?” Xemnas said, before kicking away Lea’s hands, and stepping on one of them.

“You can wait your turn,” Xemnas stood over Xion, aiming his blade at her chest. Sora tried to get up and ran back over to her; but a part of him told him he was going to be too slow. That was when he began to glow, and a ball of light shot out of his chest and up into the sky. A split second later, a comet came falling from the sky, right towards Xemnas, making the man jump back. The comet hit the ground right in front of Xion, causing a dust storm. A voice rang out from the dust,

“Hands off my friends,” Xemnas actually looked surprised, and shook his head slightly.

“It cannot be,” The dust began to settle, giving everyone a look of the newcomer. He was still cloaked in a black coat, but he soon pulled the hood away, revealing spiky blond hair. He held two keyblades, ones Sora recognized as his Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He knew who this was, and Lea’s cry confirmed his suspicions.

“Roxas!” The blond boy turned back to the group and gave them a smile, before turning back towards Xemnas. He had chuckled, aiming a keyblade at the man.

“My turn,” Sora and Kairi made their way over to Lea and Xion, helping the two to their feet. In Kairi’s arms, Xion looked over the blond boy and whispered his name.

“This is impossible. Where did you get a vessel?” Roxas rolled his eyes at his ex-superior.

“Same as you,” Xemnas’s frown only deepened.

“Same how?”

“Most of the Organization’s members, they traveled here from the past as hearts. And you had replicas ready and waiting. One for each of them,” Roxas answered, with a slight smirk on his face as Xemnas’s expression turned angry.

“Who told you?”

“I owe my return to many. Some of them people you knew,” Xemnas had seemed to make a connection in his mind.

“Ansem the Wise, Zexion…” Roxas raised Oblivion aiming it at Xemnas.

“And others, too. It seems you’re not as good at winning over people’s hearts as you think,” Xemnas frowned once more,

“Ah, I see…” Roxas ignored the man as he spoke once more,

“There was one last thing I needed in order for me to be whole again. A connection. Sora helped me find my way back here to my friends,” Roxas turned his head slightly, giving Sora a smile, Sora returned it back enthusiastically, saying Roxas’s name. Xemnas only sneered,

“I don’t need hearts. I will scatter them all to the winds,” In a blink of an eye, Xemnas vanished from everyone’s line of sight. A cry rang out from behind Sora making him turn, finding Xemnas holding Kairi by the wrist. She struggled in the man’s grip, but only caused him to tighten his hold.

“Kairi,” Kairi looked over at Sora, and Sora could have sworn she winked at him.

“What difference does one little light make? You have others. Just as we have more darknesses to replenish our ranks,” A corridor began to swirl under Xemnas and Kairi’s feet, but Kairi didn’t wait for it to completely open. She dropped her keyblade, and in a sparkle of light, it reappeared in her other hand, as soon as she touched the grip, Kairi swung the keyblade right into Xemnas’s face, causing the man to release her. Once her feet touched solid ground once more, Kairi twirled on her feet, the tip of her keyblade lighting up a bright yellow, and before Xemnas could react, Kairi sent a light spell right into his chest.

“I’m not going to stand around and wait anymore. I’m here to fight,” Xemnas held his abdomen where Kairi’s spell hit, before pointing to Saix.

“Finish them!” The corridor returned, making Xemnas disappear. Saix began to run forward, and Sora and Roxas both ran to Kairi’s side, after sending Xion and Lea to rest over to the side.

The fight against Saix didn’t last very long, since the man was already tired from the previous fight, and he had to fight against three different keyblade wielders. Roxas was a force of nature compared to Sora and Kairi and Sora was very impressed. Sora was the one to strike the final blow against Saix, and caused the darkness to start leak out.

At Saix’s cry of pain, Lea came running from the sidelines, and let Saix fall into his arms. He had a fond look in his eyes, despite the tears streaming down his face. Saix lifted up a hand, and brushed aside a tear.

“Why so sad?” Lea shook his head, and gestured to the darkness swirling around Saix.

“You let them reduce you to this?” Saix shook his own head, ignoring Lea’s statement.

“I thought you outgrew the marks under your eyes,” Saix brushed away more of Lea’s tears, making Lea question him.

“Looks like you need them,”

“Stop it. The whole act. I thought this was all for her,” Lea ignored the confused looks that was being sent his way.

“At first,” Saix answered,

“I sacrificed everything to try and track her down. You’re the one who went off and made other friends. Left her and me both in the dust,” Saix glanced over to Roxas and Xion.

“It infuriated me how you just exited our lives,” Saix began to curl up more in pain, and Lea tightened his grip on the blue haired man, as he continued to speak.

“I lost all sense of purpose,” Lea shook his head, tears falling harder,

“I didn’t forget you,” Saix smiled, despite his pain.

“Yes, I know. You wouldn’t do that,” Saix looked back over to Xion and Roxas, an apologetic look in his eye.

“But…I was jealous,” Lea let out a sad sounding chuckle.

“You admit it,” Saix laughed as well, shaking his head again.

“Well, if I make it back, you won’t get it out of me a second time,” The darkness began to fully encompass Saix; he didn’t have much time left. Lea pressed his forehead against Saix,

“See you, Isa,” Saix pressed back, some tears falling down his face.

“See you, Lea,” And with those words, Saix fully disappeared in Lea’s arms.

There was a few moments of silence before Sora broke it by shouting Roxas’s name, and then tackling the boy into a hug. Roxas had chuckled at Sora, and hugged him back.

“You’re here! You’re real!” Kairi and Xion had both smiled at the duo, even Lea had a slight smile on his face despite his emotions. Roxas pulled back from the hug after a minute, and looked at the maze around them.

“Sora, I’d love to talk more, but I think there’s more important things to do,” Sora blinked, slightly startled, but he smiled once more, nodding. He turned towards Kairi.

“Kairi! Take care these guys, okay?” Kairi shook her head at him, smiling fondly. She held up her fist,

“Of course. Meet you at the end?” Sora smiled, nodding more, bumping his fist against hers.

Before Sora ran off to where he had seen Aqua and Ven, he stopped in front of Xion, checking over her. She tilted her head in confusion at him, before he pulled her in a brief hug. Sora felt really protective over her for some reason, despite not even knowing her. Xion simply melted in the hug, before pushing him away.

Sora waved at his friends, running backwards before disappearing into the next pathway.

XXX

Sora arrived just in time to protect Ventus from a blow to the back from Vanitas. The blonde had turned in surprise, but a thankful expression bloomed on his face when he noticed what Sora had done. Ventus didn’t have time to thank Sora before Vanitas tried to attack once more.

At the corner of Sora’s eye, he could see Aqua holding her own against the fake Terra; she didn’t look like she was in need of help just yet, so Sora stuck next to Ventus. Vanitas kept throwing insults after insults, trying to distract the two boys from his attacks. But, after a few minutes of attacking back, Sora’s keyblade struck against the helmet hiding Vanitas’s face, cracking it. Pieces of glass began to fall from the ground, and hair fell out of the helmet, then more of the helmet broke off, and Sora soon found himself staring at a familiar face. Vanitas looked almost exactly like him, except with black hair and golden eyes; the likeness of him made Sora take a few steps back.

“Your face…” Vanitas placed a hand on where his face was revealed.

“I’m the piece of Ventus that was taken away, and you were the piece Ventus needed to be whole again. So…why shouldn’t you and I look exactly the same?” Sora glanced over at Ventus, who was looking at the ground, his remaining hand in a fist. So because he saved Ven, Vanitas took his likeness and made it his own. Vanitas pointed at Sora,

“You define me, Sora, the same way that Ventus does,” Vanitas placed a hand over where his heart was. Sora took a step closer towards Vanitas.

“Then why won’t you stand by our side?” Vanitas looked surprised at the question, but he looked down at himself.

“Because I am darkness. And I do stand by your side. I am the shadow that you cast. How much closer could I be?” Sora took a few more steps, Vanitas took one back.

“By our side, not as a shadow but as yourself. You don’t have to fight for Xehanort. He doesn’t control you,” Vanitas let out a sad sounding laugh.

“Yes, he does. He created me, took me from the dark part of Ventus’s heart. Used me to create the unversed,” Sora’s heart hurt, listening to Vanitas. He had been through so much. Then, Ventus spoke,

“I didn’t ask for this, you didn’t ask for this. To be sifted apart. We should be free to choose. Not just light, not just darkness. We decide what we are, we decide what we do,” Vanitas looked at his other half in surprise, before laughing again, even sadder.

“I don’t get a choice, I have no light in my heart. You all will just see me as an abomination, I am an abomination, I followed the master’s orders every time, doing his bidding with no questions asked. You and your friends won’t accept me, I’ve tried to kill you,”

“But you just said it yourself, that wasn’t you, that was Xehanort,” Vanitas turned to Sora as he spoke.

“Ven is right, you have a choice. Just like Xion did, you don’t have to fight anymore,” Vanitas’s eyes widened in shock. Sora took more steps forward, until he was directly in front of Vanitas; he grabbed the dark haired boy’s hand. Vanitas slightly flinched but let Sora hold his hand, looking at Sora’s face as if searching for something.

Sora felt himself start to glow, he raised his other hand and placed it over Vanitas’s heart. He heard both Ven and Vanitas say his name.

“I saved Ven, it’s time I saved you, Van,” The white glow that surrounded Sora began to transfer over into Vanitas, making the boy gasp as a heavy filling filled his chest. Soon, the glowing ended, and Sora took a step away from Vanitas, watching as the boy grasped at his heart.

“It feels…different,” Sora and Ven nodded

“The heart is a heavy burden, Van. I hope you’re ready for it,” Sora said, with a smile; Sora ignored the heaviness he felt in his own chest. It was, then, Vanitas’s eyes filled with tears, and he fell to his knees, his hands still over his heart. Both Sora and Ventus went to take a step towards him, when they heard Aqua cry out in pain. Ven and Sora looked at each other, nodding; Vanitas will still be here after they helped Aqua.

The fight against the fake Terra went on for some time, exhausting Sora even more. He shouted out in surprise when a purple chain wrapped around him, launching him backwards. In front of him, Aqua and Ven struggled in the same chains, calling out Terra’s name. Sora could only watch helplessly, as the fake Terra lifted a hand, and began to make the chains shake Ven and Aqua around, hitting them against the walls, the ground and even themselves.

“You have no power over me!” Sora could hear the fake Terra shout as he continued to maneuver the chains. Sora shouted back, begging for the man to stop. The man eventually did stop, when both Aqua and Ven became unconscious, dangling deadweight in the chains holding them. The chains lifted the two into the air, to make the final strike. Sora could hear Ven whispering something to himself, just before the chains dropped them into a free fall from high above the ground; Sora knew the impact would probably kill his two friends.

A black blur flew past Sora, catching the two keyblade wielders, just as a wave of forgotten keyblades knocked the fake Terra to the side. Sora looked to the ground, where Vanitas still kneeled; his hand lifted up and pointed to the fake. Vanitas must have felt Sora’s stare, because the boy turned and smirked at him; Sora only smiled back. The black blur turned out to be the heartless ghost that the fake Terra could call upon, and yet it had placed both Aqua and Ven gently on the ground, before turning towards the fake Terra. It took the chains that held everyone and broke them in its grasp, freeing them and Sora. Sora landed on his feet, right next to Vanitas, and they both watched as the heartless ghost attack its master. Or so they thought.

The ghost tore at the bandages covering its mouth, as the fake Terra struggled in its grip.

“One…day…I…will…set…this…right…,” The heartless said, the voice sounded familiar to Sora somehow. The ghost repeated what it said, lifting the fake Terra in the air by his head.

“I will return to this land and protect my friends!” A ghost image of Terra appeared in front of the heartless telling Sora who the heartless actually was. The heart symbol on Terra began to glow and Sora summoned his keyblade, aiming it at the fake Terra.

“Terra! Now!” A beam of light shot out of Sora’s keyblade hitting the fake Terra, holding him in the air. Terra’s heart broke free of the heartless and launched itself back into his body. Both Vanitas and Sora covered their eyes as light enveloped the area. Once the light faded away, Sora looked up to find Terra landing back onto the ground; his hair now brown. Terra quickly turned on his feet, running towards Aqua and Ven. Aqua slowly lifted herself up at the sound of Terra’s voice, and dragged herself over to where Terra was gently lifting Ven up. She placed a hand over Terra’s.

“Terra, is it really you?” Terra looked at her with tears in his eyes, nodding.

“You never stopped lighting my way back,” Sora could see Aqua’s shoulders begin to shake, telling him she was crying. Sora found himself tearing up at the soft sound of Ven’s voice,

“You’re here,” Both Terra and Aqua began to cry more, hugging each other and Ven.

“You found me, just like you promised, Ven,” Terra tightened his hold on Aqua and Ven in the hug. In the corner of Sora’s eye, Vanitas took a few steps closer; the boy was still hugging himself.

“As touching as this reunion is…there’s a battle going on here,” Aqua and Terra jumped at Vanitas’s voice, almost summoning their keyblades, but Ven stopped them, shaking his head.

“He’s not under Xehanort’s control anymore,” The older two looked skeptical, but they held back. Vanitas turned away from the trio to look at Sora. He pointed at a cliff overlooking the entire maze.

“Xehanort should be up there with the other parts of him. You should go, your friends are probably waiting,” Sora nodded, but paused before he walked away, noticing something new about Vanitas.

“Oh! Green and brown look good on you,” Vanitas tilted his head in confusion, his eyebrows scrunched up. His eyes were now a swirl of both green and brown, no yellow to be seen anymore. Sora pointed at his own eyes, Vanitas lifted his hand towards his own, but he wouldn’t be able to see it just yet.

“I’ll show you later,” Sora patted Vanitas on the shoulder, he looked over at the trio of keyblade wielders. Ven nodded his head at Sora, telling him that they’d be okay. Before Sora ran off, he took a potion out of his pocket and handed it to Vanitas, who held the potion gingerly in his hands.

“For your wounds,” Sora simply said, before running off towards the end of the maze. He shouted over his shoulder,

“Meet you at the end!”

XXX

Sora met Riku and King Mickey at the end of the maze; they climbed the cliff face and found Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort waiting for them. Xehanort was still higher above them, watching them with a sneer across his face, a several keyblades floating around him.

The battle continued on, Sora found that they were pretty evenly matched against the Xehanort trio. Mickey was able to counter Young Xehanort’s time magic, while Riku knew all of Ansem’s weak spots. Xemnas fought the same way he did previously in The Castle That Never Was, so Sora was able to hold himself against him. One by one, they began to fall, but Sora noticed that as one of Xehanort’s other selfs began to fall, a new keyblade formed next to the old master. The old man only began to laugh as the last self, Young Xehanort, fell, giving the old keyblade master the last keyblade he needed.

Xehanort lifted his own keyblade, aiming it at the sky, sending a shot of purple energy into the clouds. The clouds began to part slowly, and soon the familiar heart shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts revealed itself.

“Darkness and light’s final clash,” Xehanort looked down and pointed at Sora, willing the boy to come after him. Sora watched as both Riku and King Mickey tried to attack Xehanort, but was both quickly countered against. Even Mickey’s Ultima spell was countered and thrown back at the King, freezing both him and Riku in the air. Xehanort turned away from the keyblade wielders towards Kingdom Hearts.

“Now…the Keyblade War will reach its conclusion!” Both Xehanort and his keyblades lifted themselves off the ground into the sky, floating upwards towards Kingdom Hearts. Xehanort aimed his keyblade at the moon, and Sora saw that it began to glow, transforming its shape; the other keyblades disappeared from around Xehanort.

“The x-blade is complete!” Sora heard the man shout, as he aimed this x-blade at Kingdom Hearts once more.

“Kingdom Hearts! I call upon your true form. Open now and show me the World to come!” A blackish blue beam of light shot out from the x-blade, hitting Kingdom Hearts. The bright yellow of Kingdom Hearts began to turn blue and then to black. Kingdom Hearts seemed to grow larger and closer to the ground, and began to shoot out ray of energy towards the ground.

Sora felt his heart grow heavier by the minute; it felt like he had failed. Two hands touched his back, rubbing it slightly, causing Sora to turn to find Goofy and Donald smiling at him. Donald grabbed his arm, trying to lift him from the ground.

“Hey, don’t give up,” Donald said, as Goofy grabbed Sora around the middle and lifting him back to his feet. His two companions smiled at him.

“We thought you might be able to use a couple of more half pints,” Goofy said, placing his hand back onto Sora’s shoulder. Sora felt tears well up in his eyes, as he looked at his friends. Donald shook his head at the boy.

“Typical. You can’t do anything without us, Sora,” Goofy pulled Sora into a brief hug,

“Now wipe those tears and let’s go stop Master Xehanort,” Sora hugged Goofy back after his words, and wiped away his tears. Sora looked up at Xehanort.

“But, now he controls Kingdom Hearts,” A voice to his right made him turn,

“You worried?” Sora found Roxas, Kairi, Lea and Xion walking towards him. Movement from behind him made him turn more, as he saw Ven, Vanitas, Aqua and Terra making their way over as well.

“Sorry, we took so long,” Lea said, he gestured to Ven and Roxas.

“Had a couple of plot points that needed ironing out,” Xion and Kairi smiled at each other as both Ven and Roxas eyed each other warily. Terra and Aqua stepped closer to Sora, looking up at Xehanort, making everyone look as well.

“He did it, he opened Kingdom Hearts,” Ven turned towards Aqua, a questioning look in his eye.

“So, what now?” Before Aqua could answer, Mickey’s spell broke, knocking both the king and Riku back to the ground. They both landed gracefully on their feet, and King Mickey ran forward towards the group, Riku hot on his tail.

“We’ve still got one hope,” Sora looked over the king and Riku, asking if they were okay. They quickly reassured the boy.

“What hope?” Ven questioned. It was Riku that answered

“It’s Xehanort. During the Mark of Mastery exam, we learned that he can transcend space and time. He’s a portal. And we can use that to trap him,” Mickey nodded, agreeing with Riku, before looking back at the group.

But, it won’t be easy. Aqua, Riku, I’ll need both your help, if we’re gonna push Xehanort out of this world,” Both Keyblade Masters took a step forward, nodding. But, Sora blocked them before they could reach Mickey.

“Wait. I’ll do it,” Sora pointed at Kingdom Hearts.

“That is a much bigger threat. Let me handle Xehanort, while you guys keep it shut,” Riku lightly touched Sora’s arm, making the boy look at him; a question in his eye. _Are you sure?_ But Sora only smiled as an answer. Mickey looked like he wanted to argue against Sora, but the boy turned towards him and he knew he wouldn’t win against the boy. Everyone standing behind Sora nodded at the king, agreeing with what Sora had said. The king sighed,

“Okay, Sora,” Sora smiled at him, and then at all his friends.

“I’ve got this,” Sora began to walk forward, and he heard footsteps following close behind him. He looked to find Donald and Goofy next to him, shield and staff at the ready.

“You can’t forget about us,” Donald simply said, at Sora’s questioning look.

“Without Keyblades, it’s not like we’ll be much help here,” Goofy said, explaining their reason. They all stop, and Goofy and Donald placed their hands over top each other; Sora immediately knew what to do, placing his own hand over theirs.

“Three half-pints together again,”

The ones that had Keyblade summoned them, lifting them towards the sky, the points of each glow a bright white. The beam from Sora hit Xehanort in the chest while the others hit Kingdom Hearts. Bright pink glow from Xehanort, releasing a portal. Sora felt Donald and Goofy grab onto him, as he aimed for the portal, sending them forward.

XXX

Xehanort’s portal sent the trio to a beautiful white city connected to other similar cities that rested above a vast ocean of water. Xehanort explained to them that this was a place called Scala ad Caelum after they survived against the attack of his duplicates that led them all over the town. This place had once been the seat of power for all Keyblade wielders.

The next fight had been against Master Xehanort himself, now powered by all of his duplicates, in his own set of weird looking armor. He had been able to reconfigure the world to his will, sending Sora, Donald and Goofy to all sort of places, even to under the water, where a destroyed watchtower laid. But the trio were able to defend themselves enough against the master, and cracking his armor, making it disappear. The city around them was practically destroyed; pieces of buildings floated in the air. Xehanort panted, attempting to catch his breath, before disappearing into a corridor of darkness. Sora knew the old master couldn’t have gone far, and a part of him told him to make to the very top of the town, the roof of the castle-like building. So Sora followed his gut with Donald and Goofy close behind.

They found themselves in a courtyard of some sort. The ground marked by a giant rune like circle. Before they could go far, Xehanort appeared before them, a sneer still across his face. But Sora didn’t care, he kept walking forward towards the master, summoning his keyblade, aiming it at Xehanort.

“It’s all over, Xehanort,” But Xehanort simply stood there, an eyebrow raised.

“You thought you could contain me here knowing all that you do about connections?” Xehanort held out his own hand, a bright burst of light filling the courtyard. Once it dissipated, Xehanort stood where he was, the x-blade now in his hand. Xehanort lifted the x-blade towards the sky,

“There is one sky, one destiny!” The clouds above them parted and Kingdom Hearts started to appear once more. Xehanort looked back down at the trio, a smirk on his face, challenging them. Sora, Donald and Goofy stood their ground, ready for his next attack.

This last fight felt more desperate, like Xehanort was trying his hardest to end it as quickly as he could. But Sora was able to hold on, and made the final strike against the master. Or so he thought.

Xehanort shot a beam of dark energy at Sora; the boy defended himself, but the keyblade in his hand accidentally tilted in his hand, and he felt the beam hit him in the chest. And then, it all went dark.

He was floating.

He felt like he could give up if he wanted. No more fighting.

A part of him told him to rest.

But then his heart beat hard in his chest. Telling him he can’t just yet. He heard someone calling out his name; a small blue light and a small green light.

Something told him to open his eyes and so he did. He was standing now, once more defending himself against Xehanort’s attack, he felt himself being pushed back by the force of it. But two pairs of hands landed on his back, helping him push back. He turned his head, finding Donald and Goofy helping him. Together, they were able to break the beam attacking them, and send their own beam of red, green and blue lights straight towards Xehanort, casting the final strike, ending the battle.

The darkness that was once obscuring Kingdom Hearts disappeared, leaving behind the heart shaped light in the sky. Sora ignored the heaviness that was in his heart, that was leaking into his body, and took a few steps forward to Xehanort, as the man fell to his knees, the x-blade falling to the ground. Sora could hear the man questioning how he lost,

“It’s over now, you lost!” Xehanort shook his head.

“No, look again, you’re too late,” Sora looked back towards Kingdom Hearts, and saw energy raising out of it once more.

“What’s going to happen?” He shouted at the old master, as he sat up some more, holding onto what seemed to be a wound on his side.

“A purge…The World will be returned whence it started. The World began in darkness. And from that darkness came light. From the light came the people, and the people had hearts, evil burgeoned in those hearts, begetting more darkness. And that darkness spread across the World like a plague. The light, the symbol of the World’s hope, was devoured by shadow. Leaving nothing but ruin…An utter failure. But the first light, the light of Kingdom Hearts, it can give us a new start. An empty World, pure and bright…,” Sora found himself angry at the man’s words.

“It wasn’t your decision to make,” Sora’s words made the master look at him, before grabbing the x-blade from the ground. Stabbing the blade into the ground, using it as support, Xehanort stood,

“Then whose was it?” He challenged Sora back, but Sora had no answer.

“The World needs someone to stand up and lead. Someone strong, to stop the weak from polluting the World with their endless darkness. Someone to dictate their destiny,” Xehanort’s words were heavy in the air, but Sora shook his head.

“If so, you’re not that person, Xehanort,” Sora’s words made Xehanort look at him once more.

“A real leader knows that destiny is beyond control and accepts that,” Sora narrowed his eyes, challenging the old master to fight against him once more. But the man simply smiled.

“You make me think of an old friend,” Before Sora could respond to the master, Goofy pointed up to the sky where a keyhole appeared and several lights seemed to be falling from the sky. Each light transformed into one of his friends. Riku and Kairi took a few steps closer to Sora, making him smile.

“You made it!” Sora heard Donald say, and Mickey had questioned if they were okay, which they quickly reassured him. Riku took more steps forward, pointing towards the sky.

“Kingdom Hearts is closing on the other side. But we managed to follow our hearts to you,” Sora smiled at Riku’s words looking at each of his friends, even Vanitas was there.

Terra turned towards Master Xehanort, taking a few steps towards the man.

“There’s more to light than meets the eye. As I told you,” Xehanort’s eyes widened at Terra’s words.

“You sly fox…” Xehanort said, as Terra began to glow; a ghost of a man appeared right in front of Terra, someone apparently Ven and Aqua knew for they gasped in surprise. The man held out a hand,

“Now hand over the x-blade, Xehanort,” Xehanort shook his head,

“It is too late,” The man looked away from Xehanort and towards Sora and his friends.

“For us, perhaps, but not for them,” Xehanort lifted his keyblade, aiming it at the man.

“No, I can do this,” The man simply stared at Xehanort before stepping forward, placing a hand over Xehanort’s that was holding up the x-blade, making him lower it, before placing another hand on Xehanort’s shoulder. The man smiled at Xehanort, shaking his head slightly,

“Enough. Checkmate,” What the man said to Xehanort seemed to pacify him enough, for he completely lowered the x-blade, before walking forward, stopping in front of Sora. Xehanort held it up, offering it to the boy.

“Very well done,” Even though Sora was confused, he took the x-blade into his hand; its weight however only caused his heart to feel even heavier. The man that had appeared turned back towards Terra, Aqua and Ven.

“Terra, Aqua, Ven, please forgive your foolish teacher,” At his words, the three rushed forward and pulled their former teacher into a hug. The former master apologized for his misgivings to each of his students, hugging them tight, before asking Terra to look after the three of them. They pulled away from the hug, and the master walked away from them back to Xehanort, grabbing him before he can hit the ground.

“Ready my friend?” Xehanort nodded, as they both began to shine bright, their appearance changing into what seemed to be younger versions of themselves. They smiled at each other, before they floated into the sky, disappearing into the light of Kingdom Hearts.

“Sora, let’s close it,” Mickey’s voice reminded Sora of his current task. He nodded, holding the x-blade tightly in his hands.

“Everybody, help me out,” Everyone agreed, forming a half-circle around Sora; they all began to glow as Sora lifted the x-blade into the air. A beam of light shot out of the x-blade into Kingdom Hearts, closing it and locking it away.

Sora’s mission was complete. He felt the x-blade fall from his hands, disappearing, and his vision began to fill with blackness. He could hear someone calling out his name, but he couldn’t answer back. He felt himself fall backwards, under the weight that had accumulated in his heart, hitting the ground. Sora’s eyes began to close. A face appeared before him, familiar with teal eyes, saying his name once more.

But Sora fell to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;3c
> 
> Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long, college is hitting me hard. I finished up this chapter in-between breaks from my papers. But I should be finishing both papers up soon, and have more time to work on more chapters. Though, I am going on vacation in April so I won't be able to post during that time.
> 
> Was I okay with the fix-it parts of the story? With Kairi and Vanitas? I hope I was, they both deserved better.
> 
> I post snippets, thoughts and ideas of this story up on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/) if you want to look. And there's also my [tumblr](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/) if you want to look at that instead.
> 
> Heart you! See you next chapter!!!
> 
> Next chapter: The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I said on Twitter, that I wanted Sora to show Riku the other worlds that appear in KH3. So I started to write it. 
> 
> I, also, really adored long haired Riku, so I made him keep his long hair.
> 
> Anywho, I put bits and pieces of my stories on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum), I also rambled about/retweet a bunch of KH stuff and other things.
> 
> Or there's also my [tumblr](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Next Chapter: The Keyblade Graveyard


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